Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1887-11-30
aKnmsCRNCEs or PUBLIC MEN.


EMNAgNH NEENtSG HegN.Ate EaHsH
BIZ BEN PERLEY PoORR
When il was asserted that President
Hayes would listen to recommendations
for Office from Congressman when he
had made the appointments several
days before, the following Indiana story
was told: "A rural Justice Of the peace,
Squire Edmnnds, q cousin Of the
Senator from Vermont, hourished amid
tho chills and fevers on the banks Of
the Wabash. A case Of great local In
terest was being tried before him with
out o jury. The attorney for the
plaintiff had spoken for two hours and
appeared rs if just getting started in
his exordium. The defendants coun
sci, with q huge roll of manuscript, "a,
near him taking page on page of notes
The courtroom ~ crowded. As the
hands OF the clock pointed to the hour
ofnoon Squire Edmunds arose, motioned
to the attorneys and said: When the
learned counsel have concluded theil
able argument they will find my de-
cision in this drawer; I wrote it out
last night. The Court is going te
dinner"
Hawthorne came here during the war,
with his publisher and friend, w. ID.
Ticknor, Of Boston, and they were con
stantly together, occupying the same
room. Hawthorne was about five feet
ten inches in height, rather broad
shoulders, but slender in person. His
hair was turning gray, his eyebrows
were heavy, his eyes blue-black.
and he wore Q full beard and mustache.
He was a good pedestrian, and it was
difficult for Mr.. Ticknor to keep NJ
with him on their daily walks to and
from the Capitol, or their exploring
tramps around Washington. He called
on MI. Lincoln one morning, when
Mr.. Dawes presented q whip made in
Western Massachusetts,, and wrote a
very amusing account OF the scene,
which appeared, emasculated, in the
atlantic Monthly, although James L.
Fields, the editor, afterwards printed
what he had stricken out. At that
time there we're not MANY of Haw-
thorne's Democratic friends in Wash.
ington, but he aud Ticknor had a jovial
time, paying morning and afternoon
visits to Hancock's "Old Curiosity
Shop" to enjoy the fruit punches made
there.
When Mr.. Lincoln heard of the scat.
tering Of the Confederates under Hood,
by Gen. Thomas, he was reminded OF
the following anecdote: "Out in lower
Illinois, in a little village, there was q
butcher named Sykes, who had q large,
wicked, mischievous bulldog which
was regarded as o town nuisance. Fowl
were killed, clothes were pulled from
the lines, lighthouses were robbed,
children were scared, and Sykes dog,
was blamed for all and blamed Justly.
Now there was @ man named Hender-
son who had a fine turkey killed by
this dog of Sykes, and he swore re-
venge. So he took about a quarter OF
q pound of powder and did it up in a
piece of buckskin, tying up Il piece OF
punk so that it projected out of the
little bundle of powder. Then he put
the bundle in a large piece of corr
bread, and had it in readiness. It was
not long before Sykes dog came trot-
ting along, and Henderson, lighting the
punk with his cigar, threw the bit of
bread to the cur, who gobbled it at q
mouthful. The next minute there was
an explosion. The dogs head was
blown over the fence into the creek,
his hind legs and tail were sent up and
lodged IN Henderson's porch, his fore
legs were thrown across the street, and
the rest of the bow. bow was laid about
in small pieces. "Whorra!" exclaimed
a looker-on, "you've rather used up
Sykes dog, haint We, Henderson? ?"
yes" replied Henderson, II rather
think that as a dog Sykes won't find
him OF much use" "And so of the
rebel army" added Mr.. Lincoln, with
n OF his sad smiles, "as an army, Hood
won't find it of much use."
Thad Stevens was emphatically "the
leader OF the House," and he exercised
despotic rule over his followers. No
Republican representative could i'm
pose his imperious will without ~receiv-
ing a tongue lashing that terrified
others, if it did not bring the refractory
member back into the partisan harness.
Rising by degrees, as a telescope is
pulled out, until he stood in a most I'M
graceful attitude, his heavy black hair
falling down wei his cavernous brows
and his cold little eyes twinkling with
anger, he would make some ludicrous
remark, and then rising up to his full
height, he would lecture the offender
against party discipline, sweeping at
him his large, bony right hand in I'M
graceful gestures, as if he would clutch
him and shake him. His brows would
contract, his eyes would glow like live
Goals, and he would use invectives
which he took good care should never
be printed perbdtim in the Globe.
John Randolph. in his braggart days,
was never so imperiously insulting as
was "Old Thad" when he was the leader
of the House.
Stevens was q firm believer in The
old maxim ascribed to the Jesuits, "The
end justifies the MEANS" and while he
set morality at defiance, he was a faith
full champion Of the equality Of the
black and the white races. There was
an u~ndercurrent of dry humor about
him, too. that often disarmed his DO
litical opponents. When Keitt, oil
South Carolina, vas once eulogizing the
iuStttutiou VI sluFeTy, anu TALKING aDOut
q pious deacon on his own plantation,
Stevens grimly inquired what the price
of deacons was in the Orangeburg Dis
trict Of South Carolina and whether q
negro would bring any more on the
auction-block because he was q deacon ?
When the invading rebels burned his
iron foundry near Gettysburg during
their raid into Pennsylvania, he ex-
pressed regret that Lee did not order
the burning of his Liabilities at the
same time. And the ruling passion
was strong in death, for when his doctor
said day during his last sickness
"Mr. Stevens, / think your appear
ance is better to-day" old Thad dryly
responded: at isn't my appearance
that troubles me, doctor, but my disap-
pearance."
The Story Of Irene AlstOm.
Some there are, borne to poverty, yet
endowed with the instinct Of Unsuitable
craving for knowledge and truth and